This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD)

Is Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) a worthy investment now? Prominent investors are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets dropped by 1 lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action surrounding Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD).

What does the smart money think about Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD). Citadel Investment Group has a $71.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $31 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management and Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management.

Since Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at about $65.4 million in stock., and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $4.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 12 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD). These stocks are DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL), Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA), Texas Roadhouse Inc (NASDAQ:TXRH), and Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK). All of these stocks are in the restaurants industry and their market caps resemble BWLD’s market cap.